Governor's aide gets update on new digester

Thursday

Jun 3, 2010 at 2:50 PM

By Peggy Aulisio

By Peggy Aulisio

Editor

FAIRHAVEN — Jeffrey Simon, director of the state Office of Infrastructure Investment, which oversees spending under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, received an update last Wednesday on the new digester at the Department of Public Works.

Fairhaven received $7.9 million in ARRA funds for the digester and for solar panels that will be installed on the roofs of several DPW buildings.

William Fitzgerald, DPW superintendent, said the total cost will be $9 million, with the town covering the difference. While Simon visited the site, the ground was being excavated and prepared for the new digester building, which is being built on vacant land at 5 Arsene St.

Fitzgerald said Fairhaven was helped in getting the stimulus funds because the project was already in the planning stages. Those projects that were considered shovel-ready got preference because the stimulus funds are intended to create jobs.

Simon wanted to know how soon work would begin and how many jobs would be created in the construction industry.

Representatives from Brown and Caldwell, the environmental engineering and consulting firm that is overseeing the project, said they will be hiring carpenters, laborers, masons and electricians.

"So you'll hit all the trades. That's great," Simon said. "Unemployment in the building trades is at an epidemic level here so it's great to see some construction that hits all the trades."

The engineering firm said the goal is to have the work completed by next spring.

Asked how the digester produces energy, Eian Lynch of Brown and Caldwell said it converts sludge or organic waste to methane gas. He said generators are used to produce power.

The town now pays to have the sludge hauled to a place in Rhode island for disposal.

Simon, who is visiting many stimulus projects throughout the state, also asked if the town has experienced any problems that have slowed progress.

"When Governor Patrick asked me to see as many projects as I could, he also asked me to bring back any issues," he said.

Executive Secretary Jeffrey W. Osuch said he would like to see something done to expedite legal challenges to environmentally green initiatives, particularly wind turbines. He said lawsuits can slow down a project like the two wind turbines proposed for the DPW site for one to two years. Osuch said the delay "can have a dramatic impact on the cost of the project."

Osuch said the net metering limit of 1 percent also creates potential problems in getting bank financing. The agreement with utility companies like NStar is that it will not buy back any excess power generated by green projects like wind turbines that exceed 1 percent of its entire market.

Both Osuch and Fitzgerald said the net metering provision can make it difficult to get bank loans because there is no guarantee excess power will be bought back, thus providing a source of income and a way to pay back loans.

"That's something to me that the state needs to address," Osuch said.

Osuch said that because of state aid cuts and reduced levels of local receipts, "Municipal government is hurting." He said anything the state can do to eliminate roadblocks will help reduce costs.

Town officials had praise for the state Department of Environmental Protection, which expedited the approval process for the digester, they said.

Osuch said the solar project at the town landfill is an example of a green project that makes use of a closed landfill that has limited uses while helping the town offset some of its electricity costs.

He said wind turbine projects like Cape Wind generate more opposition because of "aesthetic issues" but, "Maybe the Gulf Oil spill will provide more incentive" to pursue wind energy.

Simon said, "It's people like you in trailers like this who are doing these kinds of projects all over the state that are putting people back to work."

Simon said, "You feel good at the end of the day," to know a project is creating jobs and "is also good in the long run for municipalities."

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